by Sam Juliano
Presidents Week 2019 as always results in a full week off for area schools as a kind of winter recess. The Oscar party at the Tiger Hose Firehouse will be staged starting at 6:00 P.M., though the show itself never gets underway before 8:20 P.M. Lucille and I are greatly looking forward to seeing many friends including some site blogging regulars for this cherished annual gathering dating back 38 years. A revolt by the film community resulted in a reversal this week of the tentative plans to consign the Cinematography, Editing and two other categories to commercial breaks, which in essence was another preposterous plan in a year when AMPAS has bungled numerous decisions. Yet in each case they were overturned. J.D. Lafrance penned a terrific essay this week on The Warriors.
We saw two new releases on Thursday and Friday evenings at premium Manhattan art houses. Ciro Guerra’s Birds of Passage is a violent drug cartel drama which focuses on an indigenous community (Wayuu and Spanish language) governed by stringent traditions and spiritual beliefs. Tensions over business and family insults lead to an epic assault on a practically surreal while fortress in desert terrain in a film with gangland repercussions. Brilliantly filmed and scored, if a bit slow getting out of the gate. Christopher Honore’s deeply personal and melancholic trans-formative if doomed gay romance Sorry Angel, set in 1990’s Paris amidst the AIDS crisis brings a rare authenticity into searing relationships among bohemians who click on chance encounters and no-holds-barred physicality that ensues. This is the uneven Honore’s finest film to date.
On Saturday night we attended both the Oscar Nominated Live Action Short and Oscar Nominated Animated Short Presentations at the Claridge Cinemas in Montclair. Roughly both round-ups were equal in quality. Far from the finest years, but also solid enough to be memorable. The Irish animated short Late Afternoon and the American-Chinese One Small Step were the best of the animated and the Canadian Marguerite and the disturbing American short Skin were the best of the live action offerings.
Birds of Passage **** (Friday night) Film Forum
Sorry Angel **** 1/2 (Thursday night) Quad
Oscar nominated Live Action Shorts **** (Saturday)
Oscar nominated Animated Shorts **** (Saturday)
